Given the importance of a credible monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of NREGS for qualitative improvements, timely redressal of grievances and mid course corrections in implementation, a third party monitoring and evaluation team was set up in June 2009 by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh. The government enrolled seven CSOs for the task, with each CSO responsible for a separate district level M&E. The subject was the ongoing special afforestation programme being implemented through a collaboration between the Forest Department and NREGS division.

Development Alternatives (DA), with its past experience in enabling access to entitlements and proven track record in project management, was identified as the monitoring agency for the Jhansi District with effect from July to October 2009. The scope of work extended to 56 plantation sites across 40 Gram Panchayats, under seven blocks in Jhansi District, covering 1166 hectares of plantation, involving about 5000 households, with the help of 12-15 Forest Guards, 102 Watchers, 7 Block Development Officers, NREGA cell officials and other district level authorities.

Afforestation is the transformation of wasteland into the forest or the woodland. It is actually the conversion of land that has not been forested for more than 50 years to forested land through planting or seeding. For Bundelkhand, large-scale afforestation is an answer to the existing acute water crisis and series of droughts in the region. That, clubbed with an employment guarantee scheme like NREGS, is a potential way out of distress migration and sufferings of the poor and marginalised in this region. The solution exists but execution and application of this, in a manner befitting the poor, still remains a concern.

Wednesday, July 15 2009, livemint.com

DA set up a core team and developed monitoring frameworks, tools and a detailed plan of execution for regular reporting to the related authorities. About 410 respondents contributed to the field assessment and review conducted thereafter. Some of the key issues reported by DA on the systemic and institutional gaps, impediments and facts for corrective actions and better implementation include:

• Awareness: Lack of awareness and compliance of unemployment allowance provision. The job card holders do not know much about the afforestation programme except that it involves digging pits and planting saplings. They feel it is only ‘mitti khodne wala kam hai’

• Registration for job cards: Custody of job cards not available with the actual holders

• Employment application process not being followed: Work allotment showed that job cards were issued depending on the need for labour for a project or the available labour, not based on demand

• Transparency and accountability: There was no compensation for delay in payment. No public announcements on payment details were made on any of the sites

• Wage payment Schedule of Rate (SOR) not being followed: The payment was averaged out between high and low productivity of workers

• Site Inspection: Here, 90% of the worksites did not have muster rolls in the work sites on the pretext that heavy rains would ruin them

• Basic infrastructure for regular irrigation not developed on more than 95% sites: Plant mortality rate was, for obvious reasons, very high

• 45% of the work sites were devoid of basic facilities like clean water, medical aid or shades

• About 20-25% job card holders employed on worksites did not have bank accounts

• Payments not made in time: Part of the wage payment was being given by job card holders, willingly, to the middleman for his help in the withdrawal process

• Most of the bank branches near the work sites have low capacity and efficiency to manage job card holder accounts, regular payment, etc.

At one of the sites in Mauranipur, where the population was mostly tribal, choice was being given between full payment through cheque or 60% payment, but in cash. At another site in Bangra block, forest guards were giving payment in cash, which they say is to avoid hassles and wage loss for workers in bank transactions.
 

Case of an NREGS Job Card Holder and his Run for Wages

Ramesh, a 50-year-old farm labourer as well as wage labourer in Magarpur village of Bangara block, had registered for NREGS two years ago and received his job card. He managed to get 27 days of work in the first afforestation programme exceuted in November 2008.

Payments were to be made by cheque and before he started work, he was told that his wages will be given on time. This turned out to be false and Ramesh had to run around and plead with Forest Guards and Forest Watchers for his payment, but all in vain. The work was completed and a month later, the forest guard told him that he has not received his payment since his bank account is not open yet. So, first Ramesh would have to get a bank account. Ramesh was shocked and angry, but he had little choice. He went to the bank to open his account. Being an illiterate, he couldn’t fill up the application forms and returned home. He shared his problem with a fellow villager who agreed to help him but charged Rs 50 for filling up his forms and getting his account opened.

It was already more than a month after the NREGS work. Ramesh had to go from pillar to post in opening a bank account and, to top it all, had to shell out money from his pocket to get the formalities done. Now, the cashier told him that his wages would come to his account in another 15 days. After 15 days Ramesh again went to the bank with the hope of withdrawing his payment but no money had come. Disappointed and frustrated, he approached the Forest Guard and Pradhan of the village for help and returned with an assurance that they would take the matter to higher authorities, but nothing happened. Nine months passed and there was still no progress on his issue. Ramesh approached many others but to no avail.

After 9 months of the previous work completion, when the next afforestation programme was launched, one fine day Ramesh received his pending payment! This came at the cost of more than Rs 300 added to mental and physical exhaustion for the poor labourer.

This is not a one-off case but the story of as many as 20 others who were interviewed during the NREGS M&E done by DA for the Jhansi Afforestation programme.

Our team raised this issue during the discussions with the Forest Guards and the bankers. The guards blamed the banks and bankers blamed the government; none were ready to accept responsibility for the undue delay and difficulty inflicted on the wage seekers or take corrective action.

The increasing disillusionment and decreasing interest and willingness of several job card holders for working under NREGS is an obvious outcome.

The job card holders, when interviewed, said that they do not have issues in using help from a middleman for withdrawal, applications and other formalities as the banking procedures are too difficult and time consuming for them otherwise. There is no standard commission given to the middlemen; it is decided upon by mutual agreement. There is an evident need for functional financial literacy for the job card holders to enhance their understanding of the payment and withdrawal rights and procedures.

Apart from regular monitoring of the wage payments and employment-related issues, DA was also responsible for preparing a list of job card holders (JCH) for the irrigation and maintenance phase in consultation with the forest department. About 304 job card holders were identified and the list was submitted to the forest department and rural development department for further action.

Lessons Learnt

• The District forest officen in Jhansi is making commendable efforts in trying to regenerate the wasteland through plantations in even the most interior of the sites, but there is an equally urgent need to look into the worker conditions, employment guidelines, especially payment and facilities, plus provisions for irrigation and maintenance of these plantations for the desired results

• A significant gap in orientation and capacity of the forest department and panchayats towards NREGS implementation was also evident

• JCHs who had got fewer number of employment days in this year under NREGS were given priority for enrolling in irrigation and maintenance work but this posed a challenge, as the level of interest of these job card holders for this work was very low. Those who were willing had already completed the stipulated 100 days of work

• On almost all the sites, the source of irrigation was either limited or did not exist. In the absence of proper irrigation facility, selection of job card holders for irrigation work would hardly be an advantage for the afforestation programme

• The workers had to suffer due to extreme temperatures in summers and winters in this region. Worksite facilities must be improved and basic protection must be provided from such conditions

• Payment delays should be mitigated through literacy initiatives and sensitisation of bankers and line departments

• There was an apparent lack of focus on capacity building of the respective Gram Panchayat by the forest department and generation of awareness on the value of this programme and its monitoring procedures

• There is lack of transparency and high scope for exploitation and manipulation in payment due to the absence of muster rolls, work measurement registers and even job cards on site

A wage seeker from the Bangra block conveyed that if their wages are given within a week’s time, their enthusiasm for future NGREGS activities will be much higher. ‘Garib aadmi ko paisa samay par aur aasani se mile toh kaam bhi achha hoga,’ he added. q

Anjali Agarwal
aagarwal@devalt.org
Prabhat Kumar
pkumar1@devalt.org

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